Saving Stanley
by grxvityfxlls
Summary: It's been years since Stan has last seen his brother, and with the portal now complete, he may find a way to bring Stanley back home. (Includes the Reverse Pines AU.)
1. Chapter 1

Stan entered the empty room, his eyes wandering about. In his arms was the body-switching electron carpet: Experiment 78. He had to wait a few weeks to dig it out of his room since the kids were poking their noses around every single thing, ever since they had defeated Gideon. Stan rolled out the light blue shag carpet, laid it upon the floor, and exhaled loudly. He sat himself on the couch and sighed once again, his head in his hands. Normally, Stan was cold; he was usually grumpy and showed no care for other people. But this was his _brother_, and being in his room stirred up some latent feelings.

"Stanley," Stan breathed, picking up his head to face the calendar. It was dated July 4, 1982. The day they were supposed to assemble all members of The Royal Order of the Holy Mackarel, set out to find the last piece of the blueprint, and defeat Bill Cipher and all of his minions once and for all. Stan groped through his jacket and found Stanley's glasses in his pocket, cleaned it with the bottom of his shirt, then set it on the table.

It was midnight. The kids were asleep. Stan got up, took one last look at the room, and took off to the vending machine. He quietly made his way over, tapped in the code, and bolted down the steps. Stan took a glance at the working portal, grinned, then turned away. He flipped through the pages of Book 2, and found the page he was looking for. The Bill Cipher wheel. He didn't know why these people were chosen, but he knew what they had to do. When they are all joined together...

Stan stared at the picture of Bill Cipher in the center of the wheel. The stitched heart was that annoying emo teen Robbie V, who always made goo-goo eyes at Wendy. The question mark was his handyman, Soos. The ice package was Wendy. The star was Gideon, he realized, and he frowned. "That little twerp is going to help us defeat Bill?" Stan grumbled, continuing on with the list. The llama was Pacifica, the girl who was so mean to Mabel. The six-fingered hand was Old Man McGucket. He recognized a symbol as himself, and the glasses as Stanley. Mabel was the shooting star, and Dipper was the pine tree. Stan already lost his brother to Bill; he didn't want to lose his great-niece and great-nephew too. Stan frowned. He knew that Pacifica, Robbie, and Gideon wouldn't help him, and he definitely didn't want Dipper and Mabel to get involved. Not after what happened in his mind.

He was just going to have to save Stanley on his own.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey, Mabel?"

"Yeah, Dipper?"

"Don't you think Grunkle Stan has been acting, like, weird lately?"

"I don't know. Want to ask Waddles? Oink oink."

"Mabel, we're going to spy on him tonight. Okay?"

"Yaay, spying!"

* * *

Grunkle Stan sat behind the cash register, stacks of money piling up. In all honesty, he used greed as a front. He didn't _care _about how much money he owned. There was one goal he had, and he was going to achieve it. Dipper came up to the cash register, noticed Grunkle Stan's tired, worn-out expression, and felt a pang of concern. "Hey, uh... you alright?" Dipper asked awkwardly, tapping the counter. Stan cleared his throat, put on his cold exterior and glared. "Yeah, I'm fine," he remarked curtly, walking away. He set out to his room. "I'm fine," he repeated a second time, his voice shaky. Stan was on the verge of tears, but he refused to let them out. He inhaled deeply, and released it in a heavy sigh. He stayed in his room until late, when he was sure the kids were asleep and his employees have gone off.

Tonight was the night.  
He's going to bring him back.

Slowly and quietly, Stan sneaked out of his room and into the room underneath the vending machine. He passed through the gadgets and gizmos, flipping switches on and pressing buttons to activate the portal, the portal that led to infinite worlds. As he was about to exit the control room and enter the large one containing the portal, he heard footsteps. "Stan? Grunkle Stan?" Those voices belonged to Dipper and Mabel, and he saw their shadows trudging down the stairs. He stared at them in horror as they approached the control panel. "Grunkle Stan...?" Dipper said incredulously, as Mabel stared at the panel. "Oooh! Shiny!" she marveled, reaching over to touch one of the switches. "Stop! Don't touch that!" Stan roared, ripping Mabel and Dipper away from the control panel. Dipper's eyes were on the portal, but then something else caught his attention. The books.

"So _this _is why you took my journal?" Dipper shouted, ready to grab Book 3, but Stan stopped him. "_Your _journal? Kid, please. The guy who wrote these books is-" He stopped. He couldn't tell them, not now. If Old Man McGucket regained his memory, and remembered what Bill had done to him... Wait, what are these kids doing here? "How did you find this place?" Stan demanded, his grip on the both of them tightening. "We- we followed you!" Dipper squeaked, "You've been acting strange lately and we wanted to get to the bottom of this!" Mabel chimed in, "Turns out the "bottom of this" is the bottom of the vending machine! Bwop bwop!"

Grunkle Stan's gaze turned to the portal. "I... I need to save my brother..."

Dipper and Mabel gasped. "Brother?!"

Stan nodded. "Do you guys need an explanation or can I go now, because I really don't want to talk about-" "Tell us! Tell us!" The Pines twins demanded, tugging on Stan's shirt. Stan sighed. "How about...

When I get back?"

And with that, he bolted across the room and into the portal.


	3. Chapter 3

Once Stan had rushed into the portal, the electric beams ceased and the portal appeared to have shut off. Dipper and Mabel cried out, "No! Stan!" and they both attempted to turn the portal back on, to no avail. They didn't know how to activate it. "Maybe, we should switch some switches and press some buttons?" Mabel suggested, reaching out to a switch. Dipper slapped her hand away. "No! What if accidentally switching something on could _kill him_?" Mabel looked at her twin brother in shock. Then they both turned to the portal.

All they could do right now was wait for Grunkle Stan to return.

* * *

Dematerializing was painful.

Stan felt every single one of his body cells vanishing. And it took a while for him to finish dematerializing, too. Thoughts ran through his mind as the pain eventually subsided, and his whole body turned numb. He knew that it was a bad idea to rush into the portal like that, without everyone from the Bill Cipher wheel. A laugh echoed around him- a laugh he knew. Bill.

"Ah, Stan Pines, it's good to see yo-..." A pause. Stan could visibly see his body again, and in front of him was the dream demon. A glowing yellow pyramid with a top hat and bowtie. "You're not Stan Pines," Bill grumbled. Stan gave him a confused look. "Uh, yes I am," he protested. "No no no," Bill sighed, "You're Stan_ford_ Pines. I'm looking for Stan_ley_ Pines." Stan's expression switched from confusion to fury- "You're not going to get my brother! He's my brother!" Stan ranted, jumping at Bill, trying to grab him, but Bill dematerialized and rematerialized behind him. Stan turned to Bill. "I've spent years and years trying to perfect the portal to find my brother and I will! You'll see!"

A hole appeared behind Stan, and before Bill could reply, Stanford Pines was sucked into another dimension.

* * *

He was standing in front of the Mystery Shack. The S was still gone. Did the portal work at all?

Stan peeked through the window, and to his surprise, he saw Lil' Gideon and Pacifica playing chess with Robbie. He was about to yell at them until he realized that they didn't behave or dress like themselves. Instead of a prissy blue suit, Gideon was wearing what it looks like Dipper should wear, and instead of snobby rich girl clothes, Pacifica was wearing a 90's-styled outfit, and Robbie was wearing a white collared shirt and slacks. _What?_ Stan furrowed his brow and craned his neck. Soos was still the same. And Buddy Gleeful was there too- was he the owner of the Shack? Where was his own counterpart in this dimension? Stan wondered, pacing away from the Shack.

Then he stopped in his tracks and his eyes widened.

Where was Mabel and Dipper?


End file.
